Improvement in bill-files



3 Sheets-She et 1 C. S. WHITMAN.' BILL-FILES.

No.18Z,7Z6.

. Patented'SepL 26, 187,6.

` SSheets-Shee'tS. MAN.

Patented Sept. 2G, 1876.

C. S. WHIT BILL-FIL No.182,72.6.

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'y IMPROVEMENT ma erre-Fires.

l Specification formin partofLette'rsPatentNo. k1S.2,i726..,dated September ,26, y1876 application tiled l .lingua 15,`is76.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be `it known vthat I, CHARLES WHITMAN, of;` the city of Washington, Di-sf trictvof Columbia, counsellor-at-law, have in.

vented new and useful Improvements in Gases and Cabinets for Holding Documents, which.

with an elastic medium orsprng which` per-A forms the threefold oce of holding the `documents compactly in position, forcing the drawer outward, and releasing the documents in such a manner that. .they mayiloel handled-with facility. V- a Y In the accompanying plate of drawings, in' which corresponding parts are designated by similar letters,-Figure lis a sectional view of an incased drawer for holdingV documents, having my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents in section the drawer partially withdra wn from the case. Fig. 3 illustrates, in perspective, the drawer almost entirely withdrawn from the case. Fig.v 4 is a front View of two of a series of drawers, arranged side by side between horizon tal shelves. Fig. 5 illustrates la catch or lock, which may be made use of for locking the drawer and preventing the parts thereof from being forced too far outward by the action of spring when the drawer is crowded with papers. Figillustrates, in perspective,

a drawer provided with side strips which slide in grooved guides, and in which the documents i are horizontally arranged and alphabetically indexed. Fig. 7 is an inclined cabinet of the kind which I prefer to use for holding the tilting drawers illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Fig. l0 is a View, in section, of a revolving cabinet, containing a series of drawers similar in construction to those shown in Figs. 1 and 2, arranged one above the other, and side by side in a revolving cabinet. Fig. 1l illustrates a series of drawers alphabetically arranged in a stand composed of two folding parts, and havvone of'thesidesh thereof removed in order to facilitate the manipulation of' the? papers. Fig. kl2 illustrates-.a series of drawers alphabetically arranged in a chest of Lthree folding parts. l

vIn thesaid drawingsfA designates the cas;-

ing, within which the drawersV are arranged. f Between the said casing and the follower B isV interposed an elasticy medinm,-which maybe a spring of-any known construction which it' `may be deemed advisable `to use.4 The inter-x posed spring may be attached to thewcasing or,theplaten, orto\both.n: The drawer Dimay be of any known construction, but should be of a size and shape` adapted tothe kind `of documents which are to be tiled, the man-ner of filing them, and the cabinet in which they are arranged. Thus iny Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 a drawer is shown of greater height than width, while Fig. 6 illustrates `a drawertheiwidthv of which isgreater than'its height; and Figs. 8 and 9 show a drawer which, instead of being forced `horizontally L` outward, is made to describe the arc of a circle about one of its lower corners. The docu'- ments to beled are inserted between the fol- .lower and the front side ot' the drawer; but

if le-jackets are used the follower may be dispensed with, in which case the spring would act directly upon the rearmost wrapper.

When tilting drawers, similar to those shown in Figs. 8 and 9, are made use of the follower should be made to slide in grooves, or upon guides formed upon the sides or bottom of the drawer, in order that the pressure of the spring may not force it upward. The spring passes through an aperture cut in the back or bottom of the drawer, or the back board of the drawer may be entirely removed.

The drawer may be held in position when closed by a spring-catch, lock, or any of the known methods of securing a drawer to its casing 5 but I prefer to make use of a fastening the construction of which is best illustrated in Fig. 5, when the drawer is crowded with papers, and it is desirable to prevent lit from being forced from the casing. The said fastening consists of two downwardly-project ing lugs, a b, attached to a cylinder, which has its bearings in the casing, and arranged at an angle of about sixty degrees of each other The force-ofA gravity' causes the outer lug toy assume aposition which will hold lthe drawer such a manner as to release the drawer from the casing, the expansive force of the spring uponV thei'ollower causes the drawer to iiy outwardand assume a proper position `for the reception of lthedocunuents to be lile`d,which are inserted through the opening'in- 'the top or side ofthe drawer.l The drawer is then forced backward to its original position, and the papers areiirnily-held' between the follower and i the outer casingof .the box by the action of 'It `will be obvious tomen of-clerieal skill' that .an' apparatusof this kind possesses great advantages over the devices and methods heretofore in -use for;iling papers. Among these advantages may-be mentioned thefollowing: The use of tape or straps is dispensed with. The lelcase is rendered self-indexing by--placing within the drawer D,-in-front of the follower, a' series'- of `partition-leaves arranged alphabetically, as is clearly shown/iny Fig.`3. ofA the drawings. l

In order to file and indexa document sii-nul-v`v taneously, it `isnonlyfneeessary to insert the saine in the rear or front of lthe partition-leaf theletterof which corresponds with the initial letter of the first `surname ndorsed onl the document to be. indexed.- Thus a document indorsed JamesT Brady would be placedY in the rear or front of .the partition markedB";""`

TheWiley'tRussell lldanufacturingConn'pany, in the rear of partition marked W; papers in a law-case entited Seymour vs. Osborne,77 in tle're'ar vof the letter S.

Forextensive business, however, a cabinet containing as Imany, or almost/as many,'^tile cases as there are letters in the alphabet will bevnecessary,as is shown in Figs. 11 and 12.

EachY file-case is provided with twenty-four partition-leaves, alphabetically arranged, as `above described. rB y thisconstruction lve hundredand seventy-six compartments are constituted, in either of which one or more documents may be simultaneously led and indexed.

In making use of these loomp'artmentsl avail myself of bothsur and Christian names. Thus papers relating to JamesTfBrad'ys es# tate would be placed in file-'case B, behind-par tition-leaf J, vand the willof A. T. StewartV wouldbe placed in file-case S, behind letterA 5 in other words, the letter npon'the tile-case is for the surname, and the letter upon'the partition-leaf within the file-case for the Christian 1' name. 'In' other cases the rstimportant word` of the indorseinent would indicate the lecase, and the second the partition-leaf. Thus a brief in the case' of'Seymour'fvs. Osborne ed in case S,behind partitionwould be plac Having thus described my i'nvention,'Iclaim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United S'tates- A o A document-case providedfwith a'movable drawer, having a follower operated bya spring l attached to'the backof fthe' case, as -and'for the purposes described.

Vi/f-itnesses:

. A. MOORE, f i 'JosEPH'G. W1LDMAN.

CHARLES s WHITMAN. 

